Countertrey wrote:^ so do I... but, these are positions that generally don't need a lot of development...

As a unit....they do...Id guess NOBODY had ANY issues 2 years ago when everything was hunky-dory....Now the offense underperforms and its the OL....or the DEF....or ST....God forbid, BOB had a sophmore slump

Countertrey wrote:^ so do I... but, these are positions that generally don't need a lot of development...

As a unit....they do...Id guess NOBODY had ANY issues 2 years ago when everything was hunky-dory....Now the offense underperforms and its the OL....or the DEF....or ST....God forbid, BOB had a sophmore slump

You have to earn the right to be on the "unit". They didn't... on a very deficient unit... there is likely a reason for that.

Countertrey wrote:^ so do I... but, these are positions that generally don't need a lot of development...

WOW. Is that true? I mean, I guess we're talking about a fifth and sixth round pick with Compton and Gettis, but LeRibeus was a third rounder. That seems like a huge whiff to not hit on at least one of those guys. Bummer.

I was just looking at Chad Rinehart's stats. That's a guy we drafted in the third round who apparently couldn't get on the field for us, but has since gone on to start for Buffalo and San Diego last year. Any thoughts on comparing a player like that to LeRibeus, for example?

Riggofan I was thinking the exact same thing. While Countertry is right that O-line usually doesn't require too much development, some guys do take longer than others to find their niche in the NFL. I was thinking of Reinhart as a good example. Let's hope that's the case with these guys.

"My goal in training camp is to see how much he can develop as a drop-back passer," Gruden said. "Obviously he can do the rollouts and the naked bootlegs and all that. But let's see what he can do from the pocket, and if he can run from there, that's when he'll really get a lot of yards."

"There comes a point in a season, in a game, when you have to do some dropback passing," he said. "You are going to have third-and-12 where you can run read option or a bubble screen. If you are down two touchdowns late in the third quarter, you have to be able to be a dropback passing team. You have to have that part established. So we really want to focus on that, teach him some concepts we like and have at it."

"It's a long season," Gruden said. "It's a 16-game grind. You don't want him getting hit 15, 20 times a game on read options. You have to keep your stars healthy. You don't want to put him at risk too much. But that's who he is. It's what he is as a quarterback. He's very effective in that regard."

"My goal in training camp is to see how much he can develop as a drop-back passer," Gruden said. "Obviously he can do the rollouts and the naked bootlegs and all that. But let's see what he can do from the pocket, and if he can run from there, that's when he'll really get a lot of yards."

"There comes a point in a season, in a game, when you have to do some dropback passing," he said. "You are going to have third-and-12 where you can run read option or a bubble screen. If you are down two touchdowns late in the third quarter, you have to be able to be a dropback passing team. You have to have that part established. So we really want to focus on that, teach him some concepts we like and have at it."

"It's a long season," Gruden said. "It's a 16-game grind. You don't want him getting hit 15, 20 times a game on read options. You have to keep your stars healthy. You don't want to put him at risk too much. But that's who he is. It's what he is as a quarterback. He's very effective in that regard."

This is what I expected... The bottom line is, Griffin is not going to have a long career if he does not develop pocket skills, and he knows it. His physical gifts are still off the chart. His intellect cannot be questioned. He has a huge work ethic. His discipline in at least continuing to attempt to develop pocket skills, while getting the snot beat out of him because of the times his line failed... or he held the ball to long... tells me that he is committed. With a full preseason to focus on this, there will be great improvement in his game. He won't be all the way there, because the skills are honed in the game, not in practice or preseason.... but it will happen. By the 6th-8th game, I predict that we will start to see some good production from Bob the pocket passer... assuming the pocket can be kept marginally cleaner than this past season. With repetition, the game slows down... and efficiency improves...

"My goal in training camp is to see how much he can develop as a drop-back passer," Gruden said. "Obviously he can do the rollouts and the naked bootlegs and all that. But let's see what he can do from the pocket, and if he can run from there, that's when he'll really get a lot of yards."

"There comes a point in a season, in a game, when you have to do some dropback passing," he said. "You are going to have third-and-12 where you can run read option or a bubble screen. If you are down two touchdowns late in the third quarter, you have to be able to be a dropback passing team. You have to have that part established. So we really want to focus on that, teach him some concepts we like and have at it."

"It's a long season," Gruden said. "It's a 16-game grind. You don't want him getting hit 15, 20 times a game on read options. You have to keep your stars healthy. You don't want to put him at risk too much. But that's who he is. It's what he is as a quarterback. He's very effective in that regard."

This is what I expected... The bottom line is, Griffin is not going to have a long career if he does not develop pocket skills, and he knows it. His physical gifts are still off the chart. His intellect cannot be questioned. He has a huge work ethic. His discipline in at least continuing to attempt to develop pocket skills, while getting the snot beat out of him because of the times his line failed... or he held the ball to long... tells me that he is committed. With a full preseason to focus on this, there will be great improvement in his game. He won't be all the way there, because the skills are honed in the game, not in practice or preseason.... but it will happen. By the 6th-8th game, I predict that we will start to see some good production from Bob the pocket passer... assuming the pocket can be kept marginally cleaner than this past season. With repetition, the game slows down... and efficiency improves...

That's realistic and ideal. I honestly think he will struggle a little bit in pre-season (if cousins is still on the team we'll here whos sthe starter junk). Once the regular season starts he will scramble when he feels pressure take a few unnecessary hits. Then a game or so after he will take less hits.

For his pocket passing. He will struggle in the pre-season, but show some promise. Start of the regular season he will struggle slightly, but will be fairly accurate and making some mistakes (noones perfect), but will get better as the year plays on. If you look at his rookie season he was pretty accurate with his throws when hes confident with his body and has open space. The OLine needs to be much better.

I'd like to note on my prediction seeing, which defenses are in the schedule is kinda important too. So it can be slightly off.

Countertrey wrote:^ so do I... but, these are positions that generally don't need a lot of development...

WOW. Is that true? I mean, I guess we're talking about a fifth and sixth round pick with Compton and Gettis, but LeRibeus was a third rounder. That seems like a huge whiff to not hit on at least one of those guys. Bummer.

I was just looking at Chad Rinehart's stats. That's a guy we drafted in the third round who apparently couldn't get on the field for us, but has since gone on to start for Buffalo and San Diego last year. Any thoughts on comparing a player like that to LeRibeus, for example?

I think we can be assured that there will be upgrades throughout the offense. We saw that the line was good in 2012. We saw that with an indecisive QB, it'll look like garbage in 2013. At the end of 2013, we saw that with a decisive QB, they can go multiple games without giving up a sack. With some upgrades, a decisive/accurate QB, they'll improve.

Robert will finally be healthy. He'll finally have an entire offseason to work towards the goal of perfecting his craft. Gruden will focus on his footwork, that will help his accuracy. Hopefully the new coaching stuff will be able to aide him in his ability to discern defenses.

Countertrey wrote:^ so do I... but, these are positions that generally don't need a lot of development...

WOW. Is that true? I mean, I guess we're talking about a fifth and sixth round pick with Compton and Gettis, but LeRibeus was a third rounder. That seems like a huge whiff to not hit on at least one of those guys. Bummer.

I was just looking at Chad Rinehart's stats. That's a guy we drafted in the third round who apparently couldn't get on the field for us, but has since gone on to start for Buffalo and San Diego last year. Any thoughts on comparing a player like that to LeRibeus, for example?

I think Chad is a FA this year. Think he's worth a look?

Man, I have no idea. I just thought he was an interesting example of an o-line guy who didn't seem to develop here, but a few years later is starting for a decent team. (I don't really know btw how to judge if he has been very good as a starter in San Diego or "just a guy".)

It would be great though if Gruden or any of his coaches are able to get something out of these young guys that we've drafted the past few years. Even if its just Gruden, a young coach, looking at some of those guys differently and giving them a chance.

SkinsJock wrote:we are going to see a better O line than last season - that's easy (it was terrible) - what will take time is for the O line to develop chemistry to become a really good O line

We need improvements on the line, but to say they were terrible is just too simple. The o-line looked a lot better under Kirks helm. They went an entire 2 games without giving up a sack. Why? Because Kirk can operate within a pocket. Robert looked terrible. The WR's not winning at the LOS looked terrible, all of which contributed to the line looking terrible. In addition to their own shortcomings.

SkinsJock wrote:Robert will be a lot better prepared both physically and mentally through training and coaching we're going to see a huge difference in his play and his confidence

If your prediction is true, it will have a trickle down effect to the offensive line. They'll look more like the line from 2012, than 2013. It doesn't matter who we get on that line if RGIII is still indecisive. It won't matter if he can't operate within the pocket because the line won't be able to protect him. Mobile QB's are a nightmare for most lines because they can't anchor where they're coached and be confident the QB is where the protection is best suited for him to be.

SkinsJock wrote:Robert will be a lot better prepared both physically and mentally through training and coaching we're going to see a huge difference in his play and his confidence

If your prediction is true, it will have a trickle down effect to the offensive line. They'll look more like the line from 2012, than 2013. It doesn't matter who we get on that line if RGIII is still indecisive. It won't matter if he can't operate within the pocket because the line won't be able to protect him. Mobile QB's are a nightmare for most lines because they can't anchor where they're coached and be confident the QB is where the protection is best suited for him to be.

Another reason for Aaron Rodgers to be the model - only take off when the pocket breaks down.

DarthMonk wrote:Another reason for Aaron Rodgers to be the model - only take off when the pocket breaks down.

We need to have patience in that regard. Aaron sat for years behind a HOF QB. Gruden needs to coach the hell out of RGIII during the off-season, get him as good as he can in the pocket. And put the best line possible around him. Another problem we had last year is that Mike didn't teach "broken plays". SEA does this a lot, I"m not sure about SF. But knowing we have a mobile QB, we need to provide options once he breaks the pocket. Our WR's can't just stand around and guess, they need to practice this. 2-3 years from now, hopefully RGIII is more of a pocket guy.